Marry your marketing plan

Make a vow to keep up your marketing schedule in good times and not so good times.

I have said it time and time again that marketing, no matter what type you choose, is a building process. Here is the whole thing summed up in one situation:

Assume for a moment that you had never heard of this thing called “Cola”. You go to your mailbox and get your mail only to find a postcard that says “New Fizzy Drink! You’ll Love It! A Taste Like Nothing You Have Had Before!” You might run right out and try it, but more than likely, not. Most people won’t.

So you get a second postcard.

Still you do nothing.

Then you are talking to you’re a friend from across town who says “Hey, have you tried this Cola thing?” It turns out that after he got his second postcard he went out and got a bottle to give it a try.

Now the Third postcard shows up and you’re thinking “OK, fine, I’ll give it a try.” And you do, and you do love it, and it is like nothing else. So now you have to tell your brother about it.

You see where this is going. If the makers of “Cola”, whoever they are, had sent cards to the whole town one time and then abandoned the marketing due to a lack of response they would have missed out.

So, now that you can no longer argue with the fact that you need to keep up a steady stream of marketing to the same people multiple times you are obviously thinking “How do I keep up with the whole thing while I am closing the customers that I am already getting?” The honest answer is get a direct mail company to help you.

Whatever size your mailing list is I suggest that you have enough pieces printed to mail to them at least three times. Usually once every 2-4 weeks is sufficient depending on your industry. You can set the dates for your mailings to go out and let the marketing company take care of the rest. That means that with one phone call you can take care of all of your marketing for 3 months or more. No worrying about remembering, no hassle-filled trips to the post office. All you will have to do is run your business the way that you know how and let them take care of your marketing.

Stop worrying about the steady flow of business that you need to survive. Do something about it. Create a marketing plan, date it for a while, then if it really works out, say “I do.”

If you need more information on testing out your new marketing beau, read my article Don’t Assume, Just Test and Track.

Joy Gendusa

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998 with a phone, computer and no capital investment. Since then, she has grown the company into one of the nation's most effective direct mail marketing firms, specializing in postcard marketing for small to large-sized businesses. Over the years, she expanded to offer mailing list acquisition, website development, email marketing–all while continuing to educate clients with free marketing advice.

She has been named Tampa Bay CEO of the Year, Business Woman of the Year in Tampa Bay and has been featured on MSNBC's "Your Business." PostcardMania is an Inc. 500 and 5000 company and has won awards for creativity, best business practices and leadership. Find Joy on Google+

If you would like to interview Joy or book her as a speaker, please email joyspeak@postcardmania.com or call 1-800-628-1804 ext. 281.